Time Doesn't Stop for Anyone
by Awkward.Quail
Summary: Twelve years after the death of her mother, seventeen year-old Ronni is ready for an escape. When she moves to a small town, she finds just this. But she gets tangled up in danger and romance. Playing with fire only means one thing: getting burned.
1. Chapter 1

**Time Doesn't Stop for Anyone**

**Chapter One**

_September 12, 1949 _

I was five. I had just started Kindergarten. Everyday after school I would wait for my mother to pick me up. Everytime, I would make her a picture then show it to her in the car.

_Honk, Honk! _

"Come on, baby, get in the car. We have to hurry!" my mother told me.

"Okay, Mommy, I'm coming," I said as I climbed happily into our car.

"So, Veronica, honey, how was your day at school?"

"It was wonderful, Mommy! We had so much fun and I painted you this picture." I said holding up the picture I had painted for her in afternoon Art class.

She turned her head to look at the picture for one second. One second. That's all it took. She didn't see the red light or the car. She didn't even have time to stop before it hit the driver's side.

There was a scream. The smell of rubber burning on asphalt as some one slammed on their brakes. I felt someone throw them self onto me. Then everything went blank.

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_July 10, 1961 _

_Bang! _

And my head smacked into the glove compartment.

"Dammit, Mark!" I screeched at my older brother. "Learn how to drive!"

"Sorry… next time buckle up," then he cackled at his dumb joke. "Safety comes first, Ronni!"

"Oh yeah, you're such a good example… You don't even slow down when you go over a speed bump," I retorted, rubbing my forehead where a small bump had started to show itself.

"Hey look, we're almost there," Mark replied, not even listening to the comeback I had thrown at him. He was pointing to a small hand-painted wooden sign that read _Castle Rock: 5 miles_.

"Oh, yippee," I said with fake happiness.

"Ah, come on. At least try to act happy. We just got a free house! How many people are that lucky?"

When he said _free_ he really meant inherited. My great aunt Marilyn had just died, and it just so happened she had left her whole house to favorite niece, who just so happened to be my mother, who just so happens to dead. So the whole house went to my dad who 'doesn't want a damn thing to do with that damned house.' So my brother and I decided to get away from our drunk of a father and move to a place where nobody knows us… where nobody can feel sorry for us.

"Hey Ronni, before we get settled in at the house, how about we go get a bite to eat?" Mark suggested, pointing to a restaurant with a sign said _Blue Point Diner_.

"Okay, I'm cool with that," I said.

"Great, let's go," He said as he hopped out of the truck and walked into the diner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Time Doesn't Stop for Anyone**

**Chapter Two **

We ordered from the restaurant and started eating our food. Mark kept making me laugh by shoving his straw up his nose and drinking his milkshake that way. Then suddenly the restaurant became deadly quiet and an uneasiness came over us.

I looked toward the entrance to see a group of boys that seemed to be around Mark's age, near nineteen or so.

"Hey, Ronni, let's get out of here," Mark whispered to me, looking back at the boys at the door.

"Alright," I said. Those boys creeped me out yet there was something about them. But I couldn't help thinking how cute the one that seemed to be the leader was. He had bleached hair that was spiked up and a sense of confidence that not many people had.

As we walked out the doors I could feel the leader's eyes on me. When we were almost to the truck I turned around to see him and his gang had followed us out the door.

"You new in town?" the leader asked me.

But before I could answer Mark stepped in front of me.

"Yeah, but what's it to you?"

"Oh, no reason, just trying to be friendly," he said to Mark.

His eyes switched to mine.

"My names Ace," he said, holding out his hand to shake.

I pushed Mark out of my way.

"Veronica. But you can call me Ronni, and this here is my brother Mark," I said while shaking his hand.

We didn't let go of each other's hands until Mark grunted and nodded his head towards the truck.

"Well, I have to go. Bye, Ace," I said, letting go of his hand and waving.

"See you around, Ronni," he said and then nodded at Mark.

I got in the truck and prepared for a lecture.

"Ronni, I don't want you hanging out with him," Mark said after and awkward silence in the car.

"What, the first person I meet in this town and you tell me I can't hang out with them?!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm telling you, that kid is no good. I can tell," he said calmly.

"You know what? You're just afraid I'll end up liking him and then you'll become an uncle!"

"Yeah? So what if I am afraid something like that will happen? I know what it's like to be that age," he said, now yelling.

"You know what it's like to be that age?! Mark, you just turned twenty six months ago and now you think you know everything?" I screamed.

"So what? I still know more about being a guy than you ever will!"

"Oh, right, just because I'm a girl means I know nothing about boys!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Alright, Confucius, whatever you say. I will obey your every word!" I said while folding my hands and bowing towards him.

"Oh, yeah, you're so mature-acting Ronni!" he yelled "Grow up."

"Ommmmmm….." I hummed as he yelled at me.

"Shut up!" he yelled at me.

"What is that, Confucius? Do you want me to stop my meditations?" I asked smugly.

"Ugh…why I ever brought you along…" he mumbled.

The rest of the ride home we didn't talk. The only noise was me doing my 'meditations.' Even when we were unpacking we didn't talk. Until someone rang the doorbell and I ran to answer it.

A boy near the age of fourteen was standing on our welcome mat holding a tray of brownies. He looked very disgruntled to have to be here. He started in on a ramble.

"Hi I'm Gordie and we live two blocks down from you. My mom is forcing me to do this so here are some brownies from her. Welcome to the neighborhood." He said very quickly and shoved the tray of brownies into my hands and ran to a group of boys standing a few feet away from him. He started to walk away but I yelled after him.

"Hey Gordie!" I yelled after him.

"What?" he said sighing.

"Would you mind showing me around town? I would kill to get away from my brother right now!"

After a few looks at his friends he nodded.

"Yeah I guess so." he said

"Thank you!" I yelled and ran into the house, set the brownies on the counter and ran back out side.

"Okay these are my friends Chris, Teddy and Vern." he said pointing to each one as he said their names. "And you are?"

"Ronni." I said.

The boys walked me around the whole town showing me where they hang out, cracking jokes along the way. After they were finished giving me the tour they walked me back home.

"See you later Ronni!" The boys called as they waved goodbye to me on my front step. It was already dark and I could tell Mark was going to be really angry so I tried my best to be quiet as I crept up the stairs to my room.

The door to his room was closed so I guessed he was already in bed and started to unpack my things.

After about an hour of doing that I plopped onto my bed and closed my eyes. Just then I herd a knock on my window. I got up and opened the window to see what it was and saw Gordie below my window.

"Gordie what are you doing?" I yelled down.

"We're going swimming do you want to come?"

Just then I heard a knock at my bedroom door, it was Mark.

"Hey Ronni, can I come in, I have to talk to you." he said through the door.

"Um…yeah just hold on I'm getting changed." I lied. "Hey Gordie, give me a minute."

"Okay." he said.

"Come in."

"Hey um…Ronni I wanted to apologize about what I said in the car." while he talked he looked down at his feet.

"Listen Mark its okay, I now you where just trying to be a good big brother."

"I also wanted to tell you that you can see that guy we met at the diner, but just as friends…at least for now." he said

"Thank you Mark! Thank you thank you thank you!!!" I said hugging him.

"Get of me you idiot!" he said laughing "And don't forget you better talk to me before you get into any relationships."

"I will, now get out I'm going to bed." I said

'Alright, Goodnight Ronni."

"Night Mark." I said as he shut the door

"Hey gordie you still there?" I yelled out my window.

"Yeah I'm here."

"Okay, I'm coming down." I said as I started to climb down my window.

Once I reached the ground Gordie and I started our journey towards the lake.

"So, what were you and your brother talking about up there?" Gordie inquired.

"Oh that, it was just about how when we were in the diner I met this guy and he seemed like a real nice guy but Mark didn't like him. So in the car he told me he didn't want me to hang out with that guy, so he banned me. Then we got into a fight and didn't talk fot the rest of the day."

"What was the guy's name?"

"I think he said Ace."

"Ace?! You mean Ace Merrill? Oh your brother was right you should hang out with him!"

"But why not he's seems so nice?"

"Ha, that's what he wants you to think. I'm telling you Ronni you mess with Ace you mess with all the Cobra's."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind the next time I see him." I said when really I wasn't. I liked Ace there was something about him that made him different from all of the other boys I had met.

"Welcome to the lake Ronni!" Gordie said.

The lake looked like a small pool from what I could tell in the darkness.

"This is it?"

"Yeah what's the problem?"

"Oh…nothing."

"Hey Ronni over here!" Teddy yelled waving to me by a tree.

"Hey Teddy!" I said walking over to where he and Chris were standing.

"You ready to go swimming?" Chris asked me.

"You bet I am, but I have one question."

"Ask away." Chris said.

"Why couldn't we just go swimming while it was still sunny?"

"Because what fun would that be if we didn't have to sneak out?!" Said Teddy.

"Yeah you do have a point."

"So you ready to swim?" Gordie asked.

"Just one more question."

"Ugh…what is it?" groaned Teddy.

"Where's that kid I met earlier, sort of lardy?"

"Oh, you mean Vern. Well you see Vern happens to be the good kid out of this bunch and good children don't sneak out." Said Chris.

"Okay, I get it."

"Now can we swim?" asked Teddy impatiently.

"Yeah!" I yelled and ran off towards the lake with the guys following behind me. The lake was cold as the water formed around our bodies. We were dunking and splashing each other. The night could not have gone any better.

**Authors Note: Thank you all the people that reviewed. I hope you guys like this chapter I know it really hasn't gone anywhere but all of this has something to do with what happens in the next chapter.**

**Jodi**

**P.S I won't be home for about five days so the next chapter might be a little late.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Time Doesn't Stop for Anyone **

**Chapter Three **

The next day was my first serious day of actually living in this town.

Knowing Mark and I needed some sort of an income in the house, I went searching for jobs. The first place I looked was in the newspaper, and of course, I found a perfect job that should pay a lot, judging by what I had heard about the people in Castle View.

I scribbled a quick note and left it for Mark to find when he woke up around lunch time. I turned the key in our old beat up truck and followed the directions to the Castle View mansion.

The house was a giant. It could fit our house in it. Nonetheless I entered the foyer to be greeted by a butler who asked my name and then guided me to what I would call a library, in which a thin blonde woman sat reading.

"Miss Silverman, there is someone here to see you," the butler said in a monotone. "She has come for the job interview."

Miss Silverman greeted me politely and asked me a few questions, which I answered with fake politeness. Then finally she said something about her calling me which I took as my cue to leave.

Once I was outside the mansion I ran to my truck, revved the engine, and started down the driveway toward the diner Mark and I had stopped at.

At the diner, as I had expected, Ace and his gang were sitting in one of the plastic booths, and as Ace saw me, he motioned for me to sit with them.

Soon though, I noticed that Ace had his arm wrapped around another girl's waist. She had red hair that was curly in all the right places and shining green eyes. Her features were supreme to my wavy blond hair and brown eyes.

I awkwardly scooted into a seat next to Ace's friend with the curly brown hair. While the rest of the gang was talking, the curly haired boy turned to me and started talking.

"You're Ronni, right?" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I'm her," I said.

"Well, I'm Eyeball."

"Nice to meet you…Eyeball," I said, a little confused why any parent would name their kid Eyeball.

"Yeah, it is nice to meet me, isn't it?" he said.

"Eyeball, you son of a bitch, stop being so cocky," Ace said to him. Eyeball frowned and mumbled something that Ace couldn't hear.

"You got something to say?" Ace asked threateningly.

"No," was all Eyeball said, then pushed me out of the booth, stood up, and went outside to his car.

Ace and the gang watched him walk out. Ace said to me, "Ronni, go follow him and see what he's so pissed about."

I looked up at Ace as he gave me a look. I picked myself up and dusted off. Then I pushed open the glass doors to greet Eyeball.

He looked at me and took a drag off the cigarette he was smoking. Then he hopped into the front seat of his beat up 1951 Ford Convertible.

I crinkled my eyebrows, confused about what he was doing until he said, "Are you gonna get in or just stand there looking stupid?"

Getting his drift, I climbed into the passenger seat. As soon as I sat down, he hit the gas pedal and drove away a little too fast for my liking.

**Alrighty, I know it's been a while since I last updated. I'm super sorry about that. I recently posted a new story for Stand By Me about Vern's fat cousin. It's called Blimp if you wanna check it out. Review and tell me what you think! **

**-Jodi**


	4. Chapter 4

**Time Doesn't Stop For Anyone **

**Chapter Four **

Driving down the road with Eyeball was not something that I would like to do again. People were constantly honking and giving us dirty looks. And Eyeball didn't even seem to care, he just kept that same look on his face, jaw set frowning. I could tell he was nervous by the way he was tapping on the steering wheel.

"Eyeball, where are we going?" I questioned.

"I'm gonna have some fun," he replied.

"And what would your idea of fun be?"

"You'll see…"

Positive this was going to be something illegal the only thing I could do was wait to see what he had in store.

About ten minutes later Eyeball and I reached a slightly larger town just outside of Castle Rock. The town seemed pleasantly safe as we entered it and I wondered what some hood like Eyeball would want with a place like this.

Interrupting my though process Eyeball said, "Okay, now Ronnie were going to go into the record store and lift a few, sound good?"

"Uh, yeah that's fine." I said trying to cover all of t he worry in my voice with excitement.

"Just follow my lead." he said.

The two of us entered the record shop and I could tell by the way the manager looked at we were an odd couple and it would be hard to get away with this. Then Eyeball leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Now you see the old man is sending out one of the cashiers, I want you to go over there and distract him."

Eyeball shoved me in the direction of the counter where a young man in his early twenties stood looking at me in an odd way.

"Umm…Hello!" I said to the cashier smiling at him.

"Hello," he replied trying to see past me toward Eyeball, who was casually flipping through the records. "How may I help you."

"You can help me by…" I said looking at the counter and seeing a Elvis record picked it up. "…by telling me what you think of this Elvis guy."

"You've never heard of Elvis?" The man, Samuel, said his name tag, asked.

"No, I haven't" I lied. "I'm not from around here."

"Even if you aren't everyone has heard of Elvis. For goodness sakes." The man exclaimed "My grandmother's heard of him!"

"I see.." I said. For the next five minutes I babbled with the cahier until I heard the ringing of the bell on the door. I turned around to see Eyeball leaving for his car. I quickly made an excuse to leave and speed walked to catch up with him.

As soon as we were inside of the car and driving Eyeball removed about five records from under his shirt. They all ranged from Carl Perkins to Buddy Holly.

"You didn't do too bad for your first time." Eyeball said as we sped out of the town.

"Thanks."

We drove into Castle Rock at two o'clock where Eyeball dropped me off about three blocks from my house. When I entered through the door I was greeted by a note Mark had left saying that he had gone to find a job also.

I had the whole house to myself for a few hours and I decided to spent the rest of the time unpacking things in my room.

**Hello to all of my reviewers! This chapter is dedicated to you guys because I have no one else to dedicate it to. I love all of you! And I will try to update chapter five very soon. **

**-Jodi **

**P.S I didn't look over this for grammar and spelling mistakes because I am didn't feel like it. And if you have a problem with that feel free to tell me so that I can do nothing about it. :) **


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